Police to reinvestigate 117 'honour killings'

Detectives have reopened the files on more than 100 murders in Britain which are believed to be so-called "honour killings".

Scotland Yard will today announce its inquiry into 52 murders in the London area and 65 in other parts of England and Wales in the past decade.

Motives for the murders - which happened in south Asian, Arabic or eastern European communities - often included relationships which families felt brought them dishonour.

The Met said many of the killings were carried out either by contract killers hired by the familiesor "bounty hunters", who make a living out of tracking down victims.

Last year Abdalla Yones, a Kurdish Muslim, was found guilty of murdering his daughter Heshu, 16, after she formed a relationship with a man he didn't like. Commander Andy Baker, of the Met's Serious Crime Directorate, called for more understanding of the culture surrounding honour killings. "We've been ignorant of the crimes going on," he said.